The Peasant and the Princess
by Jasmine Cooper
Summary: ROTG AU: Princess Toothiana is 17 and is expected to choose a man older than her to get married to and he has to be of noble heritage. What happens though, when she runs into a boy named Jack with brown hair, brown eyes, and the usual pale/cream skin of the commonwealth in her kingdom? What happens when friendship blooms into something more? What happens when it's forbidden?
1. Chapter 1

Tooth wandered down the hall towards her father's throne room, wishing to speak with him. Her long purple gown swished on the floor and she grumbled under her breath as her feet kept getting caught in it. Tooth never liked the frilly dresses or how proper she always had to be. "Chin up, hands folded, and smile!" Her mother used to always say until she divorced her father and ran off to some distant country.

She sighed softly once again under her breath as she remembered everything about the whole ordeal. Before she knew what was happening, she realized she stood in front of the carved wood doors leading to her father. Her unnatural purple eyes averted to the floor, unconsciously checking her dress out of habit.

Her hands softly lay on the door, just over the handle with a tooth carved into it. The old wood felt familiar under her fingers and she took a deep breath before softly pushing the doors open.

"Ah, Toothiana," Her father exclaimed as she stepped into the room, "You are looking as beautiful as ever." She gave a small smile and a nod and her father laughed warmly. She couldn't resist anymore and walked quickly to him to give him a hug. Her father was very young, only in his early 30s. He was still a very attractive man. Her father's name was Ronan and he had decided on her name as he had always had a fascination with teeth, and, over the years, that rubbed off on Toothiana a bit too.

"Father? I had a question to ask, it's very serious." The smile slipped off his face and the king was back. "Yes, dear?" "Well, I was wondering when I would have to find a suitable," she struggled to contain a shiver, "suitor." "Well, I would like you to choose one before your 18th birthday in a year, dear."

Tooth nodded, and her father smiled at her, "I know you'll find a suitable suitor, Tooth. I have faith in you." She gave a small smile and took a small bow before leaving the throne room, her dark hair bouncing in its elegant up-do slightly.

She brought both hands to her face as she left and let out a shaky breath once she was out of the room. She didn't want to deal with this now. She was only 17 for Pete's sakes! She went up the stairs to her room in the attic. Her father had suggested that she move back down to the main floor after her mom left, but she was used to the curve in the ceiling, shaped like a dome, and she didn't want to leave it.

The second her door was shut she locked it with the key around her neck dangling from a fine chain. She pulled the hair pins out of her hair and let them drop to the dresser top with soft clattering sounds. She pulled everything else out of her hair and she ran her hands through her hair a couple times, bringing it back to her usual wavy locks. Her hair was a dark, dark brown, her skin was a tan color, and her eyes were purple. Just a few days ago she had died a few locks of her hair purple, blue, and green. She thought it looked cool, but her father was elated. He thought it made her look even more beautiful.

She unzipped her long, purple gown with a fluid motion with her right hand and held it up to her body as she looked through her closet for some fairly normal clothes.

Tooth was doing something she hadn't done in a long time…

Leave the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

She slid into a teal summer dress and black flats. Her father never saw what she wore out to the city and he almost never went there himself, so whenever she left the castle she could be herself.

She unlocked the door once more before placing the necklace with the key on it around her neck and closing the door behind her.

She took the quick walk to the city, her hair naturally bouncing with each step. The city was very old and some people were very poor there, but they managed with some donations on her part. Sometimes, when she'd come to visit, she'd drop some food off, along with some money, that she would buy fresh from the bakery and hand it out. Many young children were good friends with her and they waited for the day Tooth would come back.

"Tooth! Tooth!" Tooth heard her favorite voice call out towards her and her eyes found the petite brown haired girl named Emma. "Tooth, come with me!" Emma cried, grabbing Tooth's hand and dragging her along the sidewalk. "Where are we going, Em?" "My brother is working at the bakery now! He got the job! I want you to meet him!" Tooth smiled in response to how excited Emma was. Tooth had indeed heard a lot about Emma's older brother. He was the same age as her, a few months older as she recalled from previous conversations with Emma...

"Jack!" Emma cried as she pushed the door open to the bakery. There was a fairly tall boy, definitely taller than Tooth, working at the table, flour caking his arms. The edges of his sleeves were flour ridden too, even though they were rolled up to as high as they would go. He didn't look up right away, instead asking, "What's wrong, Emma?" When his sister didn't respond he looked up.

Jack's warm brown eyes widened as he saw who his little sister was towing into the bakery. "Your majesty," He said hurriedly, bowing. In his haste, he forgot where he was standing so he went face first into the flour.

Peals of laughter reached his ears as her came back up, blinking flour out of his eyes. The laugh was much different than his sister's innocent one. He _liked _this laugh, not that he didn't enjoy his sister's laugh. "You didn't have to do that," Tooth said, walking behind the counter and grabbing a clean towel. She dampened it under the faucet and held it up to his face gently, wiping the flour off his face.

Jack stood stark still his eyes looking at his younger sister, who was smirking. He squinted at her a little and she grinned, faking innocence. He saw right through it.

Tooth finished wiping his face before realizing how close they were. She set the towel in the sink and took a couple steps back, "I'm sorry. I invaded your space." Jack's eyes flickered back to hers. "It's fine." He said with a nod. Why hadn't he pushed her away like the other girls when they got to close to him on purpose? She had apologized though…

He looked to his sister and, wiping his hands on his apron, picked her up under her armpits and swung her around in a small circle before setting her down. He placed the ready flour in the oven to become a new loaf of bread while asking, "So, what trouble have you gotten into that has caused Princess Toothiana to follow you around?" He was joking but Emma played along, pouting, "I'm not in any trouble! Tooth comes down here every once and a while and visits! She's my best friend!"

Jack stiffened for a moment at how easily she referred to the princess. If his mother had been here and he had been the one to say it, he would have been scolded immensely for 'disrespecting' her. He looked at Tooth for the first time since she'd wiped his face and he could tell her face still had a few traces of pink in it by the way she was holding her head.

She was angling it away from them, trying to hide the pink, but he saw through it. "Well, any friend of my sister's is a friend of mine." He said, knowing he may regret the words later once word got around that he was friends with _the _princess.

Her purple eyes met his and he could see a slight smile on the edge of her lips. "Now, since I'm working, who wants some bread? It's on the house."

He took the bread out of the oven and cut it in pieces and Emma took a piece happily, "Thanks, Jack!" She ran towards the one of two tables in the room and sat down in a chair.

Tooth grabbed a piece also and gave a small, "Thank you," to him and he nodded before heading into the back to organize some things.

Tooth sat down next to Emma across the table. "Your brother seems nice…" Tooth trailed off. "I know, he seems a bit intimidating at first. I think you got to him though with that face wiping thing. He actually normally doesn't really talk to girls… you must be really special!"

"Oh am I…?" Tooth's voice trailed off as she thought about how she wasn't really _that _special. She shook the nasty thoughts out of her head and focused on what Emma was saying.

"You really are special! You're the only friend I have that's older besides Jack, but he doesn't count since he's my brother…" Tooth nodded to what Emma was saying as she tore pieces of the bread off and put it in her mouth, slowly chewing it as she listened.

Jack eventually came out of the back room, only to be surprised to find that Tooth was still there, still talking to her sister and she appeared to be very interested in what Emma was saying and nodding along as she ate. He sighed, uncomfortable in the presence of the princess, before getting back to work on another loaf of bread.

Every once and a while Jack would look up and be stunned again by something Tooth was doing. She would be smiling, laughing, talking with a kind voice to his sister, or something else. It would always stun him that the princess was this kind to children and just people in general.

"Well, Emma, I have a few other people to see, so I must leave you in the very capable hands of your brother." Tooth said and Jack heard the last of their conversation as Emma got up to hug her. Tooth wrapped her arms around the short girl in a quick hug and she said good bye to Emma. She threw him a quick wave and a smile before darting out the door.

Jack looked back down at the flour he was kneading. When he looked up again, his sister was literally 3 inches from his face.

"What?" He asked, looking back down at the flour. "You like her don't you?" "What? Where did you get such a preposterous idea?" He asked, eyes twinkling in amusement as he looked back up at his sister, not stopping making the bread.

"Well, for starters, you let her get pretty close physically to you… Next, you kept looking at her," he was going to object, but he realized what she was saying was true, "and, lastly, you just emit the feelings you feel and I can feel them!" Jack scoffed, "I don't emit my feelings." "Yeah? Jackson Overland, you emit your feelings." Emma stated, crossing her arms in a, "this-argument-is-over," kind of way. He thought it was cute and chuckled as he put the new loaf in the oven to bake.

"Well, I know one thing for sure, I don't mind you having her as a friend."


End file.
